Right to be cautious

It looks as though voters in the Baker School District will decide whether to recall two of the five school board members: chair Lynne Burroughs and Mark Henderson.

The recall ballots won’t arrive in mailboxes as early as proponents had hoped, though.

County Clerk Tami Green announced Tuesday that recall organizers had failed to gather enough signatures to refer the matter to voters.

Barely.

Proponents need to gather a minimum of 913 signatures from people registered to vote in school district elections to force a recall election. That threshold applies to Burroughs and Henderson individually — the organizers need to collect at least that many signatures on separate petitions for each board member.

Green certified 910 signatures on the petition to recall Burroughs, and 900 signatures on the Henderson petition.

We understand why recall backers Kerry McQuisten and Suzan Jones are upset with Green’s decision to invalidate some signatures and petition sheets.

They contend that certain dates on petition sheets which Green concluded had been changed — which results in all signatures on those sheets being dismissed — were actually the result of ink spilling or a shaky writing hand.

That sounds plausible.

Yet Green has an obligation to ensure that, almost literally, every “t” is crossed and every “i” is dotted in a matter as serious as the possible recall of an elected official.

Ultimately, we believe the only effect of Green’s decision is that recall organizers will have to replicate some of their work.

Which they say they will do, and soon.

Which means the democratic process has been delayed in this case, but in the end it won’t be thwarted, and we expect voters will have their say.